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Residents' Voices - Issue 61
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
October 10, 2011

Exempt the elderly from power disconnections

Residents from Njube, Luveve and Mabuthweni in Bulawayo are calling for the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) to exempt senior citizens from power disconnections for failure to pay outstanding rates. This comes as the parastatal has intensified disconnections, moving into the suburbs in the last fortnight. Already, hundreds of households across the city have been disconnected for debts ranging from US$200 to over US$1000. Residents reason that the elderly should be exempted from disconnections as they are already on retirement and therefore unable to earn salaries that can meet all obligations since pensions are currently very low, with some pensioners getting below US$50 a month. Meanwhile, residents say they are irked by the power disconnections as they show that ZESA is not concerned about the plight of the people, most of whom are unemployed or earn paltry salaries and hence cannot effort to pay ZESA. Residents also believe that the rates are exorbitant in light of the economic climate prevailing in the country.

Residents fume over council housing policy

Residents in Bulawayo have expressed dismay with the Bulawayo City council (BCC) as it has emerged that women with children cannot apply for housing stands unless they do so with their spouses or produce proof that the father of the child is deceased. Effectively, this means that single mothers are illegible to apply for stands. Although the city council's public relations department disputed this, investigations by BPRA proved this to be true. Officers manning the office that handles applications for stands revealed that the policy was designed to prevent couples from acquiring more than one stand on the pretext that they have separated. This has been seen by women in the city, especially single mothers as an affront to the right of single mothers to have decent shelter, and also as a form of discrimination against single women. Residents argued that single mothers should be allowed to seek housing stands just like their married counterparts, and like everyone else.

BPRA activities for the week (10 October to 15 October 2011)

This week, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) will be holding four consultative meetings and a local governance symposium as part of the Ideas Festival that is on this week. The four consultative meetings will be held in ward 11 (Emakhandeni Hall), ward 10 (Entumbane Hall) ward 15 (Luveve Beit Hall), and in Ward 19 (Old Pumula Hall) on Tuesday 11 October 2011 (2pm - 4pm), Wednesday 12 October 2011 (11am -1pm), Wednesday 12 October 2011 (2pm - 4pm) and Thursday 13 October 2011 (2pm - 4pm) respectively. The meetings will discuss issues of service delivery in the wards, and will be attended by the councillors for the respective wards. The local governance symposium will be held at Stanley Hall in Makokoba on Friday 14 October 2011 from 8am to 4pm.

Visit the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association fact sheet

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